Around 100 townsfolk managed to find out about and invade the PSC's "public" hearings on Potomac Edison's proposed 17.2% rate increase in Shepherdstown yesterday. Several dozen made public comment to Commissioner Jon McKinney, who was the only one to show up to listen. Of course, that's really not remarkable, since there are currently only 2 commissioners and Commissioner Albert seems to fear for his own safety where townsfolk gather with their scary torches and pitchforks out here in the real world.

Despite announcing that the hearing wasn't a two-way conversation where he would directly interact with the commenters, Commissioner McKinney sure was argumentative with a handful of the people who gave testimony. He took offense at comments that he believed were not factual, instead of simply listening. I wonder why he thought it was his job to defend FirstEnergy like that? The first thing Commissioner McKinney began to argue with a commenter about was the percentage of the proposed rate increase. McKinney insisted that it was a 14% rate increase. After much confusion and back and forth, PSC staff attorney John Auville managed to prevail on the fact that the rate increase for residential customers will be 17.2%. This is the number Commissioner McKinney kept denying. However, it is also the number listed on the rate increase pamphlet that FirstEnergy sent out in recent bills to customers. I find it rather alarming that Commissioner McKinney refuses to admit the true magnitude of this rate increase on residential customers. Commissioner McKinney's 14% increase figure included the average increase among different customer classes (residential, commercial and industrial). Residential customers pay the highest rates, so their increase will be much higher. Yesterday's public hearing attendees were all residential ratepayers. Commercial and industrial customers hire lawyers and directly intervene in these kinds of cases. Residential ratepayer participation is limited to public hearing commentary because the Commission believes residential ratepayers may only be formally represented by the state's Consumer Advocate and cannot protect their own interests in rate cases. Therefore, the only number that mattered at yesterday's public comment hearing is:

17.2%

But this isn't the only "fact" Commissioner McKinney felt compelled to correct in his defense of FirstEnergy.... there were many other commenters who were informed that their public comments were incorrect as they made their way back to their seats.

It seems that The Journal is the only outlet that covered the evening session, where the Commission heard sharp criticism from Delegate Stephen Skinner. Senator John Unger was understandably dismayed that neither the PSC nor the company bothered to notify him of the public hearing and he was unable to attend. Senator Unger will follow-up with written comments.

Where were the rest of our legislators? Better check those campaign finance reports for big FirstEnergy donations...

After listening to several dozen articulate and energetic commenters at both sessions, I've gotta say my favorite speaker was Robert Whalen, UWUA Local 102 President. He spoke at length about FirstEnergy's many failures, from its skimping on maintenance to its refusal to hire enough workers. He said that FirstEnergy only wants to spend on capital projects that earn a return, while attempting to avoid maintenance projects. FirstEnergy is paid a fixed amount for maintenance work. If the company doesn't spend all it collects, then that extra can be used to inflate earnings. Whalen even voiced suspicions that work reported as maintenance is changed to capital by corporate management. Is that sort of like cooking the books? Whalen made many very constructive suggestions for ways that the Commission could work with the union to improve service. As he succinctly put it... if you want to know the truth about FirstEnergy, you should ask the workers.

The Commission will hold formal evidentiary hearings on the rate increase later this month. Your rates will go up next spring... it's only a matter of how much.

Of course they will get the rate hike, and probably what they want or close to it. PSC doesn't care about the citizens of West Virginia. We have to pay for their mistakes while the head honchos sit around fat, dumb and happy. I hate to see anyone's power cut off because they can't afford to pay but that would also take money away from Frist Energy if power is off and people aren't using it.

Reply

Donald Monahan

10/18/2014 11:55:31 am

Congratulations to the (almost non-existent) West Virginia Public Service Commissions for a stunning display if ineptitude. The WVPSC is NOT supposed to work for the utilities, they are supposed to work for the public. Because of politics, the Commission does not do due diligence in holding First Energy's feet to the fire even on the most basic of business practices - billing. As Keryn so rightly points out in this article, the PSC has decided to allow FE to ping the customers for their billing screw ups and fail to protect the public from future fiascoes. The public knows maintenance has been deferred because the equipment is right in front of them everyday. Testimony from the workers confirms FE's focus on profits over reliability. Surely the one member of the PSC that showed up must know there is a better way. Unfortunatley, until political and cronyism is removed from WV state oversight boards, big business will continue to get their way, leaving the general public to pay for their failures.

Reply

Leave a Reply.

About the Author

Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

AboutStopPATH Blog

StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project. The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view. If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty. People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself. If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.